Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XLV (07/24/2018)

[Bayohne]

We are pleased to present the full digest of the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XLV! If you missed the live stream, or if you just want to watch it again (and again), check it out below!

https://sqex.to/cu9

* Don’t forget to select 720p option to watch the video in HD!

Patch 4.36, FFXIV COMPANION App, and the Feast Regional Championship 2018
0:2:30
Before we jumped into the content planned for Patch 4.4, we went over the upcoming Forbidden Land of Eureka: Pagos Expedition scheduled to release in Patch 4.36, the FINAL FANTASY XIV Companion App, and the Feast Regional Championship 2018 currently underway.

Forbidden Land of Eureka: Pagos Expedition



0:03:04
The Forbidden Land of Eureka: Pagos Expedition will finally open its doors in Patch 4.36 scheduled for Tuesday, August 7. We showed a walkthrough video of the area, so be sure to check it out.




Eureka weapons will be able to be further upgraded in Pagos. The weapon shown in the above image is taken during the upgrade process, and a special effect will be added to the weapon in a later stage.

The FINAL FANTASY XIV COMPANION App



0:08:01
We're currently going through the final checks for the app release. The app will be released once the approval from the software distributors is finalized, so we won't be able to give an exact time. We'll be sure to announce it via the Lodestone, so please look forward to it. During the broadcast we did a quick recap of the features that'll be available on the companion app.



The scheduler in the companion app can be linked with the standard calendar app on your mobile device as well.




In order to sell or purchase items from the market board, you'll need to use a Kupo Nut. Kupo Nuts are given to users as a bonus for logging in each day, and you can store up to a certain amount. We chose to utilize this system as it puts a large stress load on the server to constantly access the market board.



As a part of the premium service option, users will receive one additional retainer. This includes both an additional retainer and retainer slot, so those that already have hired the maximum number of retainers will be able to hire one additional retainer.

The Feast Regional Championship 2018 (FRC 2018)



0:18:12
The preliminaries for the Feast Regional Championship 2018 is currently underway, so we covered an overview of the championship on the show.

[Bayohne]

Patch 4.4 Special Part I



0:20:31
Patch 4.4—Prelude in Violet is scheduled to debut in mid-September!



As has been the case so far, further Hildibrand adventures are scheduled to be added around Patch 4.45.



0:23:54
Since this is an even-numbered patch, we're adding two new dungeons. For those familiar with the lore, the Burn is a desolate wasteland, bled dry of every last drop of aether due to excessive primal summoning. The Garlean Empire saw the devastation of this land and declared primals a threat and ordered their eradication.




0:26:40
We're planning to increase the number of Role Action slots from 5 to 10.



0:32:38
The Logos system is a system where you can temporarily attain a different role. We'll go into further details in the next Letter from the Producer LIVE, but for now please enjoy the second installment of the Forbidden Land of Eureka: Pagos Expedition. With the third installment, players will be able to upgrade both weapons and armor.



0:36:43
Upon discovering a portal to the Lost Canals of Uznair, players will now be randomly sent off to either the dungeon that is currently available, where you select which door to open, or a new dungeon that introduces a new mechanic, which features a giant roulette on the ground.



0:37:53
Also, since this is an even-numbered patch, we'll have new recipes for crafted gear.



0:39:07
As part of the squadron updates, we're planning to make adjustments so that those who haven't had a chance to try out the content can catch up a bit easier.



0:40:38
Similar to the Role Playing online status icon, the new customization feature for housing estates allows users to assign icons to give an idea of what type of estate a player is running. This status will be displayed in the estate listing and on the signboards, so you can have things like "selling equipment," or "we're running a bar." Along with the implementation of the long-awaited mannequin indoor furnishing, and feature to sell items equipped to mannequins as a bundle, we're hoping players will use this opportunity to bring in more estate interaction among the players.



0:43:35
Within the Gold Saucer, we're adding a new platforming puzzle GATE where players will climb to the top of Ruins of Sil'dih to reach the goal. We're planning to add other scenic areas from various parts of Eorzea to this GATE, so we would like to hear what other areas you would like to see added in the future.



0:46:23
With the introduction of the anniversary ceremonies, players will be able to celebrate the Ceremony of Eternal Bonding once again.



We have removed the requirement to complete FATEs to unlock the Crystal Tower raid, and now it can be unlocked by simply completing the quest.

And finally, players will be able to save their configuration data to the server.

Aside from what was shown during this show, we have more to come in Patch 4.4, and these will be covered in the Patch 4.4 Special Part II.

[Bayohne]

Special Guest Section
In the second half of the show, we invited two Monster Hunter: World team members─Executive Director and Art Director Kaname Fujioka, and Director Yuya Tokuda─to discuss the collaboration event between the two titles.

Overview of the MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD collaboration event

https://sqex.to/BPo

1:06:25
There's a new story surrounding howt Behemoth arrives in the world of Monster Hunter. MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD (MHW) players can expect to experience an FFXIV-like battle featuring things such as enmity control and managing mechanics during the battle. This is going to be a permanent quest, so players who are planning to start playing now can enjoy the content as well.

FINAL FANTASY XIV Collaboration Trailer (Full Version)

https://sqex.to/SGM

Check out the full version of the collaboration trailer!

Overview of the FINAL FANTASY XIV collaboration quest




1:14:32
The MHW collaboration event in FFXIV will begin when Patch 4.36 goes live.

Players will face Rathalos in the Great Hunt and the Great Hunt (Extreme). In order to replicate the battle from MHW, we're using a special system, so that the battles are different from the usual battles you're familiar with in FFXIV. Here are some examples:

• Rathalos will not accumulate any enmity.
• As the fight continues, players will receive a debuff that can only be cured with Mega Potion.
• You can only use up to 10 Mega Potions.
• Upon being KO'd you can recover at the starting point.
• Only up to four players can enter the Great Hunt (Extreme).
• The Great Hunt (Extreme) trial will end once there have been 3 total KOs.

Due to the game's content rating, we were unable to showcase graphics for breaking parts off of the enemy. However, if we have an opportunity to do so in the future, we would love to create this.





1:27:18
As for the rewards, we considered simply reproducing the Rathalos gear from the Monster Hunter series; however, we challenged ourselves to design the gear to match how the crafters of Hydaelyn would have, if they used the same materials. We also had Fujioka supervise our design. There are also undyeable and dyeable versions of the gear.

Similar to MHW, this is a permanent quest, so we would like players to delve into the fight and aim for the rewards. The normal version of the Great Hunt will be added to the Duty Finder roulette as well.

Guest Talk Session
We had a talk session with our guests Fujioka and Tokuda.



1:34:11
Tokuda: We paid special attention to how we could combine the fun aspects from FFXIV and MHW. We arranged Behemoth's mechanics, such as Ecliptic Meteor and Charybdis to fit in MHW, and then made further adjustments so MHW actions are also available. As a result, we believe it turned out to something both FFXIV and MHW players can enjoy.

Fujioka: When I first discussed with Tokuda about this plan, we talked about not making the exact same system as FFXIV, but something that utilizes MHW's actions. Based on that direction, we thought about how we could arrange and incorporate unique systems from FFXIV into MHW.

Tokuda: When fighting a Behemoth in FFXIV, we felt that having specific roles and attacks that affect the field are both interesting, and we wanted to reproduce this as much as possible.

Yoshida: Were there any concerns about implementing rules from FFXIV into MHW?

Tokuda: I believe we were able to experiment with things like this because it was a collaboration.

Fujioka: By actually trying, we were able to understand how good the systems are in both games.

Yoshida: When I tried it out, I was astonished by the high level of quality, and how fun it was to play.

Fujioka: That's probably because the lead game designer in charge of this collaboration is a Warrior of Light. (Laugh)

Yoshida: As for FFXIV, MHW is using cutting-edge graphics, and we understand that Fujioka takes special care the in-game atmosphere, so we paid special attention to how we can incorporate MHW into our environments. I'm really glad we had the Azim Steppe. (Laugh)

Fujioka: The color saturation of Rathalos in MHW is set lower to match with the in-game lighting. When we first provided Rathalos's model, Yoshida asked if it would be OK to make some adjustments to match FFXIV, as we would like to make it more Rathalos-like red. We've been supervising on how Rathalos looks, but we believe Yoshida's determination is very strong.

Yoshida: When we reproduced the model we received with the FFXIV's rendering engine, it looked a bit white. Since Rathalos in MHW has a long history, they're really detailed with things such as battle scars, and some of their scales being peeled off. So compared to previous titles, it's somewhat more white, but I assumed the graphics model took the lighting of MHW into consideration, so we decided to discuss this with Capcom along with our reasoning. As a result, we were given the approval to make it redder, so we made adjustments to the tone.

Fujioka: Our designers also knew that if you just reproduce our model it won't have enough red, so it was more of, please go ahead and adjust it so it's redder. For the Behemoth animations we were provided, we recreated the model and effects for MHW from scratch. We both paid special attention to fine details of both our work for this project.



1:41:50
Fujioka: I've had the chance to talk with Yoshida about game design before, and if we ever ended up doing a collaboration I knew he'd do something full of spirit, so we tried our best as well.

Yoshida: When I played the Behemoth fight, I was surprised with how amazing it turned out. I even thought about how I wanted them to implement the flying text into their actual game.

Tokuda: Unlike FFXIV, MHW only utilizes matching servers so the system doesn't retain data for other players' attacks and such. For this reason, we really tried hard and made adjustments to see how much information we can display for your own attacks alone.

Yoshida: I see. Since you can tell what types of attack you're doing, for those new to the Monster Hunter series, I feel like it'll be a really good system. Were there any other difficulties?

Tokuda: Adjusting the difficulty was also difficult. When we tried to put in more things we wanted to do for the fight, the difficulty just kept on going higher... For the behemoth fight, we kept it somewhat still challenging but balanced the fight so it can be cleared by those who just started as well. However, the difficult one was indeed fun, so we're hoping to add it in later as an "Extreme" version.

Yoshida: I've heard that the difficult version was so hard it couldn't be checked...

Tokuda: For the check we put in four of our best players, but it took us three weeks to clear.

Fujioka: The amount of people surrounding the team that was test playing it was crazy. (Laugh) Lots of staff came by to check in to see if they would be able to clear it or not...

Yoshida: That sounds more like "Ultimate" rather than "Extreme." (Laugh)



1:46:14
Tokuda: The lead designer I mentioned earlier is one of the Warriors of Light, but from what I know, there's over 20 in our team, especially a lot from the programming team. There are those who normally don't take on leadership roles in the team, that do lead a Free Company in FFXIV. Also, there are lots of staff members that go home early on patch days. (Laugh)

Yoshida: I was thinking there would be those who wouldn't want to create a system from scratch just for a collaboration, but hearing that, I can now understand why lots of features from FFXIV were reproduced in MHW.

Fujioka: Since it's related to the foundation of playing, our staff were proactively offering their own ideas.

Yoshida: The Monster Hunter series has a long history, and we haven't had any monsters appear in FFXIV from other titles, so I'm really honored to be able to make this happen this time.

Fujioka: I like FF series and was thinking it would be interesting to be able to introduce Behemoth to Monster Hunter, so I didn't want to miss this opportunity. I also told our staff that we'll need to start from scratch and it'd take a number of resources to do this, but I would like to make it happen. I believe since we're borrowing the name from another title, we really need to pay special attention to create it faithfully.

Tokuda: The mood felt like, everyone knew it would be difficult, but fun to develop.

Yoshida: We also have lots of Hunters in the FFXIV development team, but the person who took charge of the Rathalos battle is our number one Hunter on the development team. The development started before the sale of MHW began, so to give feedback to the development team, I asked them to fight Rathalos as much as possible once the game came out.

Message to Our Players

1:54:27
Tokuda: From the time when we first talked to Yoshida, we both decided to make it something where both communities would be satisfied, and I believe we were able to meet this goal in both of our quests. We would like for everyone to play it.

Fujioka: We tried very hard on this project as we wanted to see if this collaboration would light a spark in the Japanese gaming industry. I believe this collaboration event turned out amazing, so please try it out!

New Price for MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
The physical and digital versions of the MHW are set with a new price, so if this collaboration made you interested in playing the game, be sure to try it!